Another airplane, another sunny place...
As I'm sure you would assume considering my streak of luck in Europe, my travels back to the States have been anything but normal! It all started before we even got to the airport.. Emily and I packed all my stuff up and dragged ourselves onto the metro with the luggage (I found out today that all 3 pieces together weigh over 200 pounds! Sweet! At least it's not 200 kilos! :)). We had planned accordingly to catch the 11:00 metro to the airport. Well, when we got to the station to change metro lines in direction towards the airport we were informed that the last metro to the airport had already left! Uh-oh! We dragged the luggage upstairs and roamed out onto the street where Emily miraculously spotted a taxi, and I flagged it down like a mad woman. I think the driver may have been intoxicated, but that's another story... we got to the airport rather quickly considering we drove 40 kilometers over the speed limit! :) While I didn't enjoy the cost of the taxi ride, I'm glad it happened. I am happy I got to drive through Valencia one last time and soak it all in, especially at night. Oh, how I miss it..
Our bad luck streak didn't end at the airport. When we got there the Iberia desk informed me that my suitcases had to be under 33 kilos, and even then, I'd have to pay a fee. Oh, they also said my carry-on was too big. Even when the suitcase was empty it wouldn't fit in the stupid bin! This caused me to become very stressed, especially when the hateful lady at the desk informed me that they would examine my carry-on carefully and tag it to make sure it was the correct size. I was veryyyy frustrated, but Emily got me a Coke and helped me to repack (along with the Saint!)! We changed items from one suitcase to another and finally got both suitcases down to 32.5 kilos a piece! As for the carry-on.. well, that's another story. It never got any smaller.
Emily and I were both exhausted at that point, but we had to write a paper. It's a pretty awesome paper. Okay, maybe not. Thanks to my brother for explaining the last bit of it so I could finish writing it! :)
4:30 finally rolled around, and I finally went to check-in. Well, I realized I could check in at a machine, so I did, but then when I went to take my luggage up to the desk, the problems started. My flight was on Iberia, but it was a connecting flight for a British Airways flight. Since BA was taking me over the ocean, I was supposed to follow their luggage rules, which state that I can have up to 33 kilos per bag until November 2008. Well, Iberia's rules are different; you can have 23 kilos without paying, but after that, it's 50 euros but only up to 32 kilos. When I explained to these people that I was following BA's rules, they told me I'd have to wait until 5:30 when the Iberia office opened.. so we waited. The Iberia office opened, and I put up my fight. I was very stubborn, and I repeatedly explained to them how BA said I could have 33 kilos on my connecting Iberia flights because I was going over the ocean with THEM, and that was what mattered. Well, Iberia didn't care. They told me they didn't have any evidence I was flying BA, even though they checked my bags to Chicago, and I was flying BA to Chicago. In the end, they made me cry by telling me I wasn't going to be able to board my flight, but then they felt bad for making me cry, so I got to take on my very large carry-on.. so whatever. It worked out okay, I guess. Stupid Iberia.
My flight to Madrid was supposed to take an hour, but we miraculously ended up landing 30 minutes early! This was good for me because I was afraid it'd be a long trek to my next gate. However, the extra time I ended up having didn't really end up mattering much... my flight got delayed by over an hour, and we then had to switch gates anyway. By this time, I knew there was little hope for me to make my connecting flight in London on time, but dangit.. I tried! When we finally landed in London (way behind schedule), I grabbed my carry-on and ran through Heathrow. Yes, ran. :) I got on the bus to take me to a different terminal, and the lady at the security put me on a "fast track" line because she knew I was rushed. I still had 30 minutes before my flight was supposed to depart, so I thought I'd be okay until I reached the British Airways desk and they told me they couldn't issue me a boarding pass any longer. Oh, sad day. He redid my entire flight schedule and put me on a later flight to Chicago and an even later flight to Tulsa. I was discouraged, and I think he sensed that, so he bumped me up to the "World Travelers" class, which is apparently even better than First Class!
My new class change allowed me to board the plane early, but once again, it made no difference because our flight was delayed AGAIN! UGGH. We taxied around the runway forever, and I ended up falling asleep. When I woke up, we were in the air, and they were making announcements about our delays. Yippee. I wish I could have taken pictures of my above First class cabin, but I felt too awkward doing so.. to give you an idea what it was like, I felt like the Unsinkable Molly Brown on the Titanic, meaning that I felt very out of my "class"! The cabin was very spacious; the chairs even swiveled! However, I was probably the only person in it below the age of 50. Everyone else was either really old or clearly a business professional. They were all wearing 3-piece suits, and I was rocking the torn, faded jeans, a t-shirt, and Pumas. Oh, and let's not forget that since I spent the night in the airport the previous night there was no showering for me.. yum! :) Still, our cabin was pretty sweet and very comfy, which allowed me to sleep a lot. I also watched two movies: Pearl Harbor and P.S. I Love You. Unfortunately, the dinner on first class was no better than second class... we had chicken curry that tasted like nasty. There was pineapple, though! That was good. However, there was no cranapple. That is bad. They did give me mini bottle after mini bottle of wine. I guess they thought I needed it considering I lost my legal status when I landed in the U.S. :) I was happy that they provided us with newspapers --- in ENGLISH! There were some great articles in there about how much Ryanair sucks. I couldn't agree more, although Iberia is a close second.
When we landed in Chicago, we were already late, and then we couldn't plug in to a terminal, so we taxied around some more. Oh, the fun. We did, however, see the largest plane in the world. It was... large. Once I actually got off the plane in Chicago, things went surprisingly well. It was nice to finally have the advantage when going through passport control -- yay for being a U.S. citizen! :) Some nice man helped me get all of my luggage off of the conveyor built because when I tried to lift it it moved so fast that I almost hit someone with it! He also helped me lug it over to Customs, and Customs looked at my slip of paper, told me they were impressed that I could fit 5 months worth of stuff in 3 suitcases, and sent me on my way. :) Fortunately, the American Airlines desk was located right behind Customs, so I was able to check-in for my flight and drop my luggage off without problems!
I had plenty of time to get from one terminal in Chicago to the other. In fact, I was pretty frustrated with how much time I had; there was about a five hour gap between my flights. I did get to talk to lots of people on the phone, though! My mom, Harrison, Henry, Jessica, Michael, etc, etc, et. I gotta admit.. it's nice to have a cell phone again and be able to HEAR people!!
Currently it's 10:23pm. My flight was supposed to have already landed in Tulsa, but guess what? It got delayed!! And it keeps getting delayed.. and keeps getting delayed.. and they keep changing the gate. People are getting really frustrated here in the K section of Terminal 3. Let me just say this, though.. it is SOOO nice to be surrounded by Okies again! Europe has just reinforced my belief that Okies are the friendliest people on earth. :)
Anyway, that's my story for now. I will eventually make it to Oklahoma, but exactly when that will be has yet to be determined.. on the bright side, as far as I am aware, my luggage is not lost! Or at least it did make it to the U.S.! For now, I'm going to go continue to watch the screen roll back the time of my departure. :)
I'm lucky; I know, but I want to go home...
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Sunday, June 1, 2008
there's only one place left I wanna go... HOME!
I'm going home, back to the place where I belong...
It's funny... we've come full circle here in Spain. We are leaving just as we started.. but let me start from the beginning. :)
This past week has been a week of "good-byes". Our first good-bye was Thursday night when we were in Paris. Billy dropped us off out our hotel, and we hugged him and said, "See you tomorrow!" Well, we never ended up seeing him the next day due to cell phone malfunctions, and he was absent from class this week, so that was our final good-bye to him. I still remember when we first contacted Billy back in October or November. He'd "poke" me on facebook a lot, and I was really bad at never responding to his emails. The first time we met Billy in person was as we were walking across campus (wut da fish??), and it was totally unplanned. He was just strolling along going to class, and there we were! The next day we learned that we had a class with him, and the fun developed from there.. I'll never forget Billy showing us how to use our stove and bringing us wine to drink and teaching me how to be real gangsta! My ebonics skills have improved too, especially in writing! Haha. Thanks, Chrilly! :)
Our next round of good-byes involved classes. There were two classes over here that I absolutely loved: DDM and IMP! To be honest, I couldn't really tell you what either of those stands for (Well, maybe IMP.. but not DDM), and I'm not really sure why I took them because they don't apply to my major in any way, but the content of the class isn't what I loved, the people were! The picture on the left represents my IMP class. The little guy in the front with us was our teacher, Diego! Diego's pretty much the nicest little man alive. He goes swimming like every day and is entirely environmentally conscious, so he bikes everywhere. At one point, he asked me to marry him, although unfortunately, he is already married... :) Jan, or Honza, is the guy directly behind me; he's from the Czech Republic. He's very work-oriented, and he was the leader of our team. He definitely kept us on track.. and kept us passing. I'll miss Jan! I'll also miss Anna, the other girl in the picture besides Emily and me. She was also on our team (as was Billy), and she was sooo sweet. She's from Poland, and she was always willing to help us and talk about silly stuff that didn't relate to IMP at all. :) Finally, the picture on the right is of David, our DDM professor. If David was younger and not my teacher, he'd be like my dream boy. :) He's nerdy and fun and makes it impossible for you to be unhappy in his presence! And he's really patient and kind. He told us all kinds of funny stories about when he studied in the U.S. in high school. He had problems driving, and he didn't know that words like "shit" were considered bad (or as he called them "ugly words), so he went around screaming them happily. :) Oh, David... I wish every teacher was like him!!!
The hardest good-bye of all, though, came on Thursday when we had to say good-bye to the lady we work for, Maria, and her daughter, Natalia. Without a doubt, these people have become our adoptive family here in Spain! Maria answers our questions, feeds us food, and worries about us like any mom worries about their children, and Nat, too, is also patient with our million questions. She even reassures us about how we are going to pass our classes! :) We started out going to their house to help Nat with English (She doesn't even need help! She's awesome at it!), and these people ended up helping us out WAY more than we helped them! I can't begin to express my gratitude for them. I must admit, though, the last day of "tutoring" was probably one of the most fun. Natalia showed us some Spanish music on youtube, and then she wanted us to explain to her what some lyrics of American songs meant. For example, you may have heard the song "My Humps" by Blacked Eyed Peas. Basically, it's a song about "junk in the trunk" and "lovely lady humps", so we had to teach this sweet little 15 year old girl (and her mom!! Maria was in the room!) what these things meant. It was hilarious! Emily and I did learn to say "pelvic thrust" in Spanish.. I'm sure that'll really be useful to me in the future! ;) Emily and I both really hope that Nat decides to come to the U.S. sometime soon. If not, I am most definitely visiting them when I return to Valencia! I miss them already.
After work on Thursday Emily and I decided to throw ourselves a "going away party", which consisted of going to Pizza Hut! We also celebrated our Spanish language final being OVER!! We decided to order the "New Yorker" because we're Americans. However, the waitress informed us they didn't make it in 2 people pizzas.. just 4.. so we go the 4 person pizza, and we dominated that thing! Haha :)
My last Friday in Valencia was rather uneventful. We had to go meet with a teacher at UPV early in the morning, and then I attempted to lay on the roof and sunbathe (I'm going to miss that roof so much!), but it got really cold on me. Boo! Emily and I did watch a million episodes of Are You Afraid of the Dark?, though! Mi favorito! :)
Saturday was the exact opposite of Friday: it was VERY eventful! The duenas (that's landlord en espanol) were going to come aruond 10am, so we woke up early. Actually, I rolled out of bed and didn't put real clothes on or brush my teeth for them, but whatever.. anyway, they were coming to "close" on our apartment. They had told us that we would have to stay until the middle of June even though we had asked to leave early because they couldn't find anyone to rent it. However, I was reading in the contract one night and saw where it said we COULD move out if we told them 30 days in advance, so Emily and I were prepared to ask them about it. When they showed up (they're two sisters), they once again explained how we had signed up until the end of June but they'd be nice and let us leave in mid-June. They were going to pay our half month's rent with half of the deposit we had given them in February and then give us the other half. Well, when we brought up the issue of how we had told them in April we wanted to move out early they sort of ignored it.. and then we brought it up again.. and they ignored it again. Finally, one of them said she was confused because she knew we weren't actually going HOME until after June 1, so she thought we would want to stay longer. We then reminded them that we had told them we could stay with a friend, and they said there was a difference in languages that they didn't comprehend. I think they tried to make us feel a bit guilty by saying gained money for us would be lost money for them, but we held strong, and we reminded them that in April we said we'd move out in the end of May because it'd be easier for them to rent for an entire month instead of just half of one. They finally agreed but told us we would have to move out that day, and so our eventful day began..
As soon as they left, we started pulling out suitcases and cramming stuff in. As it turns out, I have a lot more CRAP now than I did when I first came over here, and thus, space was limited. I was arranging and rearranging and cramming things in to the tiniest places.. and then when I thought the suitcase was full, I found more space and crammed more in. It was a tedious process, but in the end I somehow miraculously got everything to fit, and Emily did too! Unfortunately, that process took up the majority of the day, except for the small bit of time where we ate dinner (pasta! The first and now last meal we had in the piso.) and the duenas were going to return at 7pm, and we still had to clean! I won't go in to too many details about our stove, but let me just say that it was disgusting, and the only way the filth came off was to scrape it with a knife.. so disgusting.. the bathroom sink was also rather nasty, but a sponge worked on it! :) I tend to think I'm a fairly clean person, but when you live in an old apartment that seems dirty no matter how much you clean it, you start to not care as much.. this habit will definitely not be one I continue in the US of A! Besides general cleaning, we had boxes (yes, boxes) full of trash. We made one trip after another up and down the stairs with trash, and we pretty much filled up the dumpster outside -- yay, illegal trash dumping! We finished just in time! As soon as we got the last bit of trash down and our suitcases down the stairs, the duenas showed up! She was actually really nice to us as she finished up all the loose ends and gave us our deposit back. I'm very thankful that these two women decided to rent to two silly American girls! The little piso will always hold a piece of my heart. It may have been old and ghetto, but it was ours, and it was always nice to return to after a long weekend of traveling... :) Good-bye, piso! You will be missed, too!
After we finished up all the paper work of the piso, we had Maria call a cab for us to transport us and our stuff from the piso to Abril's, where we would be staying. Unfortunately, when the cab showed up, we realized that all of our stuff would not fit in the car WITH us! Therefore, I took the majority of the stuff in the cab with me, and Emily got the pleasure of lugging two large suitcases to the metro. The cab driver had been a bit mean with us at first when he saw all of our stuff and didn't understand why we hadn't called two cabs, but he turned out to be rather nice. He talked to me about school and informed me I should get a Spanish boyfriend, and he even helped me unload all of my stuff at the metro stop where I waited for Emily. As I waited, a million people walked by. They probably thought I had been evicted from my home or something.. nope, not quite! :) Emily made her way to the metro stop, and we called Abril and asked her to help us. The sweet person that she is came right away! Unfortunately, even with a third person we couldn't get it all out once, so I continued to sit at the metro stuff while they took part of our luggage..
I, too, eventually made my way to Abril's! We are so very thankful for our sweet friend. She has been so accomodating to us! One of her roommates has been gone, so we have pretty much taken over her room, and Abril keeps telling us that "her home is our home"! Emily and I both feel so fortunate to have met her.
On Sunday Emily and I woke up early for church in Valencia. If you remember, we also went to church on our first Sunday here. However, this time we went to an evangelical church that was entirely in Spanish. It was SUCH an incredible experience, and I wonder now why we didn't do more of it this semester! It felt like I was back in the FCOG (That's First Church of God, for you non-Pryorites :)) with worship music and how the service was laid out, except it was all in Spanish. I think the Spanish aspect made it an even better experience, even if there are parts I didn't quite fully understand. It's amazing to me how people who speak entirely different languages can still feel the Love of our Father in the same manner. His Love doesn't require any sort of language at all; that is AWESOME! Everyone at the church was also really nice. As we were leaving the service, one guy in particular ran after us and asked us if it was our first time to be there. When we said yes, he gave us all sorts of information about services; there was even one for young adults. I was so blessed by the entire experience!
We attempted to eat at Subway after church, but it wasn't open yet, so we asked these security guards of the mall when it would open, and they said they didn't have water so they wouldn't be opening that day. We were sad! I settled on McDonald's, though, and Emily got Spain's version of Panera. As we sat down to eat, we noticed that Subway was opening! Darn security guards! They lied to us!!
Later in the afternoon made up for our disappointment, though.. we ventured down to Plaza de la Virgen, which, if you remember right, is also how we started our trip the first weekend we were in Valencia! We even passed Center Valencia Youth Hostel along the way! Oh, what memories... it seems like we were there soo long ago! We discovered the the Plaza is MUCH more exciting when it's warm outside! It was bustling with people, and we found booth after booth full of fun ceramics and tiles! I didn't allow myself to buy anything, though, because I seriously have NO room in my suitcases. Still, it was fun to see some Valencian ceramics!
The fun for Sunday sort of ended there.. we had to study that night. :( Spanish Regional Economy is just not exciting when compared to Spanish Ceramics or church. Sadly, that is pretty much all we did on Monday, too. When last night rolled around I was SOOOO tired of looking at my notes; I just wanted it to be done with! Therefore, when Tuesday morning rolled around and it was time for my last test, I met it with mixed emotions: I was nervous, but I was ready to get it over with! Upon arriving to UPV, I found that their system for placing people into rooms for testing SUCKS! There was a small herd of people crowded in the middle of the hallway, and they would call people's names and put them in rooms for the test, but no one could hear, and the rooms filled up. It was chaotic! I'm not sure how I did on the test, but we'll worry about that at a later date..
Emily and I succeeded in having Subway for lunch, and then we went to the beach.. It was so nice to lay there and fall asleep :). I will miss living 5 minutes from the beach! Really, I will miss Valencia as a whole. A little piece of my heart will always belong here. It's been so welcoming to me these past few months, and I have so many good memories here..
However, there are things that I REALLY miss about home. In no particular order, I miss having a good cell phone, driving my little Honda whenever and wherever I want, sleeping with a plethora of pillows every night, having a working shower with hot water always, Taco Bell, my whole family, milk and cookie night with the 104 gang and friends, snow days, seeing the "Welcome to Pryor: A Town for Every Season" sign when pulling into Pryor on I-44, having Ashley wake me up in the mornings, hanging out with Aaron and Krissy, friends from high school, Wednesday night Ghost Hunter marathons, reading books in English for fun, good hair days, watching TV and eating popcorn late at night with my dad, falling asleep with my cat, the ten minute walk to Strong being the longest walk to class I have, random late night trips to Steak 'N Shake, talking to Jessica late at night about stupid but fun stuff really late at night when we should have been sleeping, my church and Bible study, being the hunchback of Scholars with H, watching "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" all too much, the US dollar equaling a dollar, being able to call my mom as I walk back from class, having a dryer and microwave, my desktop, complaining about Beardsley with Rach, peeing with the door open and continuing to have normal conversations while doing so, the shower radio!, Tuesday and Thursday lunches with Jered, screaming "KAAAAAATE" for no reason, the chef statue and all its glory, being able to steal things from Garst, a glass of cranapple before bed, college friends in general, non-creepy boys who do not have mullets OR man purses, Oprah at 4 on Fridays, parties on the futon, fighting for parking spots near Scholars, STRAIGHT HAIR (arrggh!), red meat, options in shoes, being in tune with the world and not having to rely solely on cnn.com for news, NOT having a time difference, and so much more..
Still, there's so much I will miss when I leave Spain.. being able to talk and knowing that the majority of people can't understand a word I'm saying, hearing Spanish being spoken (especially by little kids! It's the cutest thing ever. Yes, ever, Emily. EVER.), traveling to other COUNTRIES on the weekends, the spontaneous actions that occur here, smart cars, public transportation (especially how cheap it is), being surrounded by history!, being able to be the "stupid American" and not caring, living by the philosophy of "Oh well! I don't care what I do! I'm never going to see these people again!", not caring what I look like ever :o), always splitting things so equally with Emily, Spanish radio stations, talking American politics with foreigners, seeing pretty fountains everywhere, living two minutes from the beach, the silly ghetto apartment and all its glory (especially the one-legged Jesus who hopped on water), Maria and Nat, discovering beautiful differences between cultures, the cute little, old Spanish couples who get all dressed up and stroll through the streets hand in hand (As I told Emily one time, I WANT ONE! Not an old man.. but a boy who still wants to hold hands when we're 80 :)), tortilla espanoles, the extremely nice and helpful people everywhere, taking naps on the roof, creating a million and two inside jokes with the Em Tram, fresh fruit markets, fajita night in the piso!, ceramics, narrow streets, train rides across beautiful countryside, the little old man who has a store near us, hearing "La Cadena" on the metro, open-minded people, Spanish, the vacation from life in general, and sooo much more...
It's quickly approaching the time for me to head to the airport and head HOME... I had hoped to make this post a bit of a reflect, reminiscent collage of sorts, but I'm running low on time, so you can expect that to happen once I'm back on U.S. soil. :) For now, I am heading to the airport one last time, and I'll be landing in the great state of OK tomorrow around 5pm. I have had an incredible 5 months here, and while I'm not quite ready to leave, I AM ready to be home! Thanks to all those who have kept up with my "adventure" these past few months! I can't wait to see you all. I don't know what I would have done without you. Love you all! My next post will be from the US of A!! :) Hasta luego, Valencia! I will return to you one day, but until then... un beso muy, muy, MUY grande!
P.S. To everyone who thought Emily and I would hate each other after 5 months.... we defied the odds! We don't. :) I don't know what I would have done without her at certain times this semester. I love you, Em (and I'll even love you when you can't talk!)! Thanks for the most amazing semester of my life!!!!! You're the BPE plus some! White or chocolate?
...where your love has always been enough for me.
It's funny... we've come full circle here in Spain. We are leaving just as we started.. but let me start from the beginning. :)
This past week has been a week of "good-byes". Our first good-bye was Thursday night when we were in Paris. Billy dropped us off out our hotel, and we hugged him and said, "See you tomorrow!" Well, we never ended up seeing him the next day due to cell phone malfunctions, and he was absent from class this week, so that was our final good-bye to him. I still remember when we first contacted Billy back in October or November. He'd "poke" me on facebook a lot, and I was really bad at never responding to his emails. The first time we met Billy in person was as we were walking across campus (wut da fish??), and it was totally unplanned. He was just strolling along going to class, and there we were! The next day we learned that we had a class with him, and the fun developed from there.. I'll never forget Billy showing us how to use our stove and bringing us wine to drink and teaching me how to be real gangsta! My ebonics skills have improved too, especially in writing! Haha. Thanks, Chrilly! :)
Our next round of good-byes involved classes. There were two classes over here that I absolutely loved: DDM and IMP! To be honest, I couldn't really tell you what either of those stands for (Well, maybe IMP.. but not DDM), and I'm not really sure why I took them because they don't apply to my major in any way, but the content of the class isn't what I loved, the people were! The picture on the left represents my IMP class. The little guy in the front with us was our teacher, Diego! Diego's pretty much the nicest little man alive. He goes swimming like every day and is entirely environmentally conscious, so he bikes everywhere. At one point, he asked me to marry him, although unfortunately, he is already married... :) Jan, or Honza, is the guy directly behind me; he's from the Czech Republic. He's very work-oriented, and he was the leader of our team. He definitely kept us on track.. and kept us passing. I'll miss Jan! I'll also miss Anna, the other girl in the picture besides Emily and me. She was also on our team (as was Billy), and she was sooo sweet. She's from Poland, and she was always willing to help us and talk about silly stuff that didn't relate to IMP at all. :) Finally, the picture on the right is of David, our DDM professor. If David was younger and not my teacher, he'd be like my dream boy. :) He's nerdy and fun and makes it impossible for you to be unhappy in his presence! And he's really patient and kind. He told us all kinds of funny stories about when he studied in the U.S. in high school. He had problems driving, and he didn't know that words like "shit" were considered bad (or as he called them "ugly words), so he went around screaming them happily. :) Oh, David... I wish every teacher was like him!!!
The hardest good-bye of all, though, came on Thursday when we had to say good-bye to the lady we work for, Maria, and her daughter, Natalia. Without a doubt, these people have become our adoptive family here in Spain! Maria answers our questions, feeds us food, and worries about us like any mom worries about their children, and Nat, too, is also patient with our million questions. She even reassures us about how we are going to pass our classes! :) We started out going to their house to help Nat with English (She doesn't even need help! She's awesome at it!), and these people ended up helping us out WAY more than we helped them! I can't begin to express my gratitude for them. I must admit, though, the last day of "tutoring" was probably one of the most fun. Natalia showed us some Spanish music on youtube, and then she wanted us to explain to her what some lyrics of American songs meant. For example, you may have heard the song "My Humps" by Blacked Eyed Peas. Basically, it's a song about "junk in the trunk" and "lovely lady humps", so we had to teach this sweet little 15 year old girl (and her mom!! Maria was in the room!) what these things meant. It was hilarious! Emily and I did learn to say "pelvic thrust" in Spanish.. I'm sure that'll really be useful to me in the future! ;) Emily and I both really hope that Nat decides to come to the U.S. sometime soon. If not, I am most definitely visiting them when I return to Valencia! I miss them already.
After work on Thursday Emily and I decided to throw ourselves a "going away party", which consisted of going to Pizza Hut! We also celebrated our Spanish language final being OVER!! We decided to order the "New Yorker" because we're Americans. However, the waitress informed us they didn't make it in 2 people pizzas.. just 4.. so we go the 4 person pizza, and we dominated that thing! Haha :)
My last Friday in Valencia was rather uneventful. We had to go meet with a teacher at UPV early in the morning, and then I attempted to lay on the roof and sunbathe (I'm going to miss that roof so much!), but it got really cold on me. Boo! Emily and I did watch a million episodes of Are You Afraid of the Dark?, though! Mi favorito! :)
Saturday was the exact opposite of Friday: it was VERY eventful! The duenas (that's landlord en espanol) were going to come aruond 10am, so we woke up early. Actually, I rolled out of bed and didn't put real clothes on or brush my teeth for them, but whatever.. anyway, they were coming to "close" on our apartment. They had told us that we would have to stay until the middle of June even though we had asked to leave early because they couldn't find anyone to rent it. However, I was reading in the contract one night and saw where it said we COULD move out if we told them 30 days in advance, so Emily and I were prepared to ask them about it. When they showed up (they're two sisters), they once again explained how we had signed up until the end of June but they'd be nice and let us leave in mid-June. They were going to pay our half month's rent with half of the deposit we had given them in February and then give us the other half. Well, when we brought up the issue of how we had told them in April we wanted to move out early they sort of ignored it.. and then we brought it up again.. and they ignored it again. Finally, one of them said she was confused because she knew we weren't actually going HOME until after June 1, so she thought we would want to stay longer. We then reminded them that we had told them we could stay with a friend, and they said there was a difference in languages that they didn't comprehend. I think they tried to make us feel a bit guilty by saying gained money for us would be lost money for them, but we held strong, and we reminded them that in April we said we'd move out in the end of May because it'd be easier for them to rent for an entire month instead of just half of one. They finally agreed but told us we would have to move out that day, and so our eventful day began..
As soon as they left, we started pulling out suitcases and cramming stuff in. As it turns out, I have a lot more CRAP now than I did when I first came over here, and thus, space was limited. I was arranging and rearranging and cramming things in to the tiniest places.. and then when I thought the suitcase was full, I found more space and crammed more in. It was a tedious process, but in the end I somehow miraculously got everything to fit, and Emily did too! Unfortunately, that process took up the majority of the day, except for the small bit of time where we ate dinner (pasta! The first and now last meal we had in the piso.) and the duenas were going to return at 7pm, and we still had to clean! I won't go in to too many details about our stove, but let me just say that it was disgusting, and the only way the filth came off was to scrape it with a knife.. so disgusting.. the bathroom sink was also rather nasty, but a sponge worked on it! :) I tend to think I'm a fairly clean person, but when you live in an old apartment that seems dirty no matter how much you clean it, you start to not care as much.. this habit will definitely not be one I continue in the US of A! Besides general cleaning, we had boxes (yes, boxes) full of trash. We made one trip after another up and down the stairs with trash, and we pretty much filled up the dumpster outside -- yay, illegal trash dumping! We finished just in time! As soon as we got the last bit of trash down and our suitcases down the stairs, the duenas showed up! She was actually really nice to us as she finished up all the loose ends and gave us our deposit back. I'm very thankful that these two women decided to rent to two silly American girls! The little piso will always hold a piece of my heart. It may have been old and ghetto, but it was ours, and it was always nice to return to after a long weekend of traveling... :) Good-bye, piso! You will be missed, too!
After we finished up all the paper work of the piso, we had Maria call a cab for us to transport us and our stuff from the piso to Abril's, where we would be staying. Unfortunately, when the cab showed up, we realized that all of our stuff would not fit in the car WITH us! Therefore, I took the majority of the stuff in the cab with me, and Emily got the pleasure of lugging two large suitcases to the metro. The cab driver had been a bit mean with us at first when he saw all of our stuff and didn't understand why we hadn't called two cabs, but he turned out to be rather nice. He talked to me about school and informed me I should get a Spanish boyfriend, and he even helped me unload all of my stuff at the metro stop where I waited for Emily. As I waited, a million people walked by. They probably thought I had been evicted from my home or something.. nope, not quite! :) Emily made her way to the metro stop, and we called Abril and asked her to help us. The sweet person that she is came right away! Unfortunately, even with a third person we couldn't get it all out once, so I continued to sit at the metro stuff while they took part of our luggage..
I, too, eventually made my way to Abril's! We are so very thankful for our sweet friend. She has been so accomodating to us! One of her roommates has been gone, so we have pretty much taken over her room, and Abril keeps telling us that "her home is our home"! Emily and I both feel so fortunate to have met her.
On Sunday Emily and I woke up early for church in Valencia. If you remember, we also went to church on our first Sunday here. However, this time we went to an evangelical church that was entirely in Spanish. It was SUCH an incredible experience, and I wonder now why we didn't do more of it this semester! It felt like I was back in the FCOG (That's First Church of God, for you non-Pryorites :)) with worship music and how the service was laid out, except it was all in Spanish. I think the Spanish aspect made it an even better experience, even if there are parts I didn't quite fully understand. It's amazing to me how people who speak entirely different languages can still feel the Love of our Father in the same manner. His Love doesn't require any sort of language at all; that is AWESOME! Everyone at the church was also really nice. As we were leaving the service, one guy in particular ran after us and asked us if it was our first time to be there. When we said yes, he gave us all sorts of information about services; there was even one for young adults. I was so blessed by the entire experience!
We attempted to eat at Subway after church, but it wasn't open yet, so we asked these security guards of the mall when it would open, and they said they didn't have water so they wouldn't be opening that day. We were sad! I settled on McDonald's, though, and Emily got Spain's version of Panera. As we sat down to eat, we noticed that Subway was opening! Darn security guards! They lied to us!!
Later in the afternoon made up for our disappointment, though.. we ventured down to Plaza de la Virgen, which, if you remember right, is also how we started our trip the first weekend we were in Valencia! We even passed Center Valencia Youth Hostel along the way! Oh, what memories... it seems like we were there soo long ago! We discovered the the Plaza is MUCH more exciting when it's warm outside! It was bustling with people, and we found booth after booth full of fun ceramics and tiles! I didn't allow myself to buy anything, though, because I seriously have NO room in my suitcases. Still, it was fun to see some Valencian ceramics!
The fun for Sunday sort of ended there.. we had to study that night. :( Spanish Regional Economy is just not exciting when compared to Spanish Ceramics or church. Sadly, that is pretty much all we did on Monday, too. When last night rolled around I was SOOOO tired of looking at my notes; I just wanted it to be done with! Therefore, when Tuesday morning rolled around and it was time for my last test, I met it with mixed emotions: I was nervous, but I was ready to get it over with! Upon arriving to UPV, I found that their system for placing people into rooms for testing SUCKS! There was a small herd of people crowded in the middle of the hallway, and they would call people's names and put them in rooms for the test, but no one could hear, and the rooms filled up. It was chaotic! I'm not sure how I did on the test, but we'll worry about that at a later date..
Emily and I succeeded in having Subway for lunch, and then we went to the beach.. It was so nice to lay there and fall asleep :). I will miss living 5 minutes from the beach! Really, I will miss Valencia as a whole. A little piece of my heart will always belong here. It's been so welcoming to me these past few months, and I have so many good memories here..
However, there are things that I REALLY miss about home. In no particular order, I miss having a good cell phone, driving my little Honda whenever and wherever I want, sleeping with a plethora of pillows every night, having a working shower with hot water always, Taco Bell, my whole family, milk and cookie night with the 104 gang and friends, snow days, seeing the "Welcome to Pryor: A Town for Every Season" sign when pulling into Pryor on I-44, having Ashley wake me up in the mornings, hanging out with Aaron and Krissy, friends from high school, Wednesday night Ghost Hunter marathons, reading books in English for fun, good hair days, watching TV and eating popcorn late at night with my dad, falling asleep with my cat, the ten minute walk to Strong being the longest walk to class I have, random late night trips to Steak 'N Shake, talking to Jessica late at night about stupid but fun stuff really late at night when we should have been sleeping, my church and Bible study, being the hunchback of Scholars with H, watching "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" all too much, the US dollar equaling a dollar, being able to call my mom as I walk back from class, having a dryer and microwave, my desktop, complaining about Beardsley with Rach, peeing with the door open and continuing to have normal conversations while doing so, the shower radio!, Tuesday and Thursday lunches with Jered, screaming "KAAAAAATE" for no reason, the chef statue and all its glory, being able to steal things from Garst, a glass of cranapple before bed, college friends in general, non-creepy boys who do not have mullets OR man purses, Oprah at 4 on Fridays, parties on the futon, fighting for parking spots near Scholars, STRAIGHT HAIR (arrggh!), red meat, options in shoes, being in tune with the world and not having to rely solely on cnn.com for news, NOT having a time difference, and so much more..
Still, there's so much I will miss when I leave Spain.. being able to talk and knowing that the majority of people can't understand a word I'm saying, hearing Spanish being spoken (especially by little kids! It's the cutest thing ever. Yes, ever, Emily. EVER.), traveling to other COUNTRIES on the weekends, the spontaneous actions that occur here, smart cars, public transportation (especially how cheap it is), being surrounded by history!, being able to be the "stupid American" and not caring, living by the philosophy of "Oh well! I don't care what I do! I'm never going to see these people again!", not caring what I look like ever :o), always splitting things so equally with Emily, Spanish radio stations, talking American politics with foreigners, seeing pretty fountains everywhere, living two minutes from the beach, the silly ghetto apartment and all its glory (especially the one-legged Jesus who hopped on water), Maria and Nat, discovering beautiful differences between cultures, the cute little, old Spanish couples who get all dressed up and stroll through the streets hand in hand (As I told Emily one time, I WANT ONE! Not an old man.. but a boy who still wants to hold hands when we're 80 :)), tortilla espanoles, the extremely nice and helpful people everywhere, taking naps on the roof, creating a million and two inside jokes with the Em Tram, fresh fruit markets, fajita night in the piso!, ceramics, narrow streets, train rides across beautiful countryside, the little old man who has a store near us, hearing "La Cadena" on the metro, open-minded people, Spanish, the vacation from life in general, and sooo much more...
It's quickly approaching the time for me to head to the airport and head HOME... I had hoped to make this post a bit of a reflect, reminiscent collage of sorts, but I'm running low on time, so you can expect that to happen once I'm back on U.S. soil. :) For now, I am heading to the airport one last time, and I'll be landing in the great state of OK tomorrow around 5pm. I have had an incredible 5 months here, and while I'm not quite ready to leave, I AM ready to be home! Thanks to all those who have kept up with my "adventure" these past few months! I can't wait to see you all. I don't know what I would have done without you. Love you all! My next post will be from the US of A!! :) Hasta luego, Valencia! I will return to you one day, but until then... un beso muy, muy, MUY grande!
P.S. To everyone who thought Emily and I would hate each other after 5 months.... we defied the odds! We don't. :) I don't know what I would have done without her at certain times this semester. I love you, Em (and I'll even love you when you can't talk!)! Thanks for the most amazing semester of my life!!!!! You're the BPE plus some! White or chocolate?
...where your love has always been enough for me.
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